This invention relates to contact sport rib protectors and, more particularly, to protective rib padding for protecting the lower portion of the rib cage of football players.
In the sport of football, a variety of protective gear has been developed to protect various parts of a player's body, such as his head, shoulders, thighs, and knees. Protective gear has also been designed to protect the lower portion of a player's rib cage after an injury, such as broken ribs, has been sustained. Protectors combining heavy plastic and air bags are capable of taking direct blows but are deficient in several aspects. For example, they are unduly bulky and unwielding, fairly heavy and hot to wear, and seriously impede the movements of the athlete. Therefore, although players wear them to protect sustained rib injuries, they do not wear them to prevent such harm in the first place.
Accordingly, it is a major object of the present invention to provide a novel rib protector that protects the lower portion of the rib cage, allows the free movement of the athlete, is light-weight and relatively cool to wear, and can be worn habitually to prevent rib injury.
In order to accomplish the above and still further objects, the present invention provides a contact sport protective rib padding adapted to cover the ribs, including at least the lower portion of the rib cage. The protective rib padding comprises at least one flexible member having a tough, relatively resilient outer protective layer and a soft, resilient, rib-contacting, inner layer, the layers being connected together around the peripheral edge of the member. The outer layer has a plurality of discrete foam-filled protective protrusions spaced from one another by thin, substantially foam-free areas which include longitudinal hinge areas and at least one transverse hinge area.
The longitudinal hinge areas are transversly spaced from one another, and define a plurality of longitudinally extending rib-protective protrusions. Preferably, the longitudinal hinge areas extend between the upper and lower peripheral edges of the member.
The transverse hinge area enables the longitudinal protrusions to bend, with the wearer, at a point intermediate the length. Preferably, at least one transverse hinge area extends between the opposite peripheral side edges of the member.
In the preferred embodiment, the member is made from integrally molded left and right portions, buckled together in the rear by a pair of elastic straps and buckles attached to the rear peripheral side edges, and laced and tied together in the front by a string laced through lacing pockets attached to the front peripheral side edges. Adjustable suspender straps, having a rear cross-over plate, shoulder guards and front buckles, provide height adjustment for proper vertical fit to the wearer. The elastic securing straps, suspender straps, buckles, and the lacing pockets are attached to appropriately placed, substantially foam-free areas of the protector.